UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor: Investigate the Possibility that Israel is Committing the Crime of Genocide Against the Palestinian People

David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, referring to the displaced Palestine people in 1949, said, “The old will die and the young will forget.” For over 70 years, the Palestinian people have resisted the Zionist occupation of Palestine, the forced displacement from their homeland, living under military rule, administrative detention, and genocidal policies of collective punishment and blockade. The old have passed on the history of the Palestinian people and the young have learned, remembered and continued the fight for self-determination.

“…the seminal distinction between Combatants and non-combatants are one of the ground principles of International Humanitarian Laws (or Laws of War) which come into play during war and armed conflicts. If unarmed civilians become fair game for armed government soldiers, since they are now regarded as combatants, then commission of killing, sexual violence, enforced disappearance, torture, foisting false cases which are ruinous for affected people, become the new “normal”.

…The governments and peoples of the world must demand justice against those guilty of these crimes against humanity. The international community can not remain silent in the face of the genocide of the Palestinian people. We demand that Israel submit to international law and comply with UN resolutions. Also, that our governments break diplomatic and commercial ties with the segregationist regime of Israeli apartheid.”

Colleagues in Palestine have called on solidarity organizations and all people of conscience to ratchet-up solidarity work in the light of what Israeli academic, Ilan Pappe, has termed, ‘incremental genocide’ in Gaza. Most recent developments include the mass shootings of March of Return protestors in Gaza. In the past few months hundreds of unarmed Palestinians in Gaza including medical personnel, journalists and children have been killed for demonstrating for their right to return to their land.

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in Egypt called on Zamalek Club to cancel its contract with Puma Sportswear, because of the brand’s cooperation with the Israeli occupation… “We understand that you may not have been aware of the extent of the company’s support of the genocide…”

This is about freedom and equality for the Palestinian people, what it’s not about is any one insular community coming to grips with a movement that has been growing for some time. I think we’ve all had plenty of time, in fact, to come to grips with the fact that the Israeli government is heavily armed and genocidal.

My faith in the Zionist project has been completely destroyed. Disillusionment came partly from learning a more complete history of the founding of the State of Israel. Google “Al Nakba” if you need to know more. More importantly, Israeli government actions during theoretical negotiation toward a “two-state solution” convinced me that Zionism is Palestinian genocide. Life is systematically destroyed in the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank through land seizures, theft of water, restrictions on transportation, commerce and trade, and military violence.

Meeting in Israel is “implicit support of the Israeli government,” said Irwin Hoffman, a Chicago psychologist who is also a member of Jewish Voice for Peace. “The contention isn’t with every Israeli individual but proximity to dehumanizing I think genocidal behavior which makes it politically destructive for the organization” to meet there.

Protesters from various campus groups demonstrated in front of a meeting of the governing board of the University of California on Wednesday. The UC Board of Regents is meeting at the UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center this week to discuss issues such as nonresident tuition increases and the University’s financial operations.

…Mariam Alkhalili, a third-year political science and international affairs student at UC Riverside, said the UC is funding violations of Palestinian human rights by investing in some companies that do business in Israel. “Our tuition dollars should not be used to fund an occupation,” she said. “(There) are victims of genocide; innocent people are getting killed every day.”

In a statement on Friday Mandela said after the brutality meted out to teenagers like Tamimi‚ the ‘’moral thing to do’’ was for South Africa to send the Israeli ambassador home and cut ties with that country.

“We want to send this message to our comrades in the Palestinian resistance‚ both those living under occupation as well as the millions living in forced exile; we shall stand by you in the struggle for a free Palestine‚’’ said Mandela‚ grandson of former president Nelson Mandela.

“Today we declare for all the world to hear that South Africa is no friend of Apartheid Israel and we condemn the ongoing tyranny‚ brutality and acts of genocide.’’